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Photograph of Old Presque Isle Light
Photograph by Mason Christensen, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Old Presque Isle Lighthouse

Built in 1840. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

From the record

“The Old Presque Isle Light was the first lighthouse in the Presque Isle, Michigan, area, built in 1840, supported physically by two-thirds stone and one-third brick, and supported financially by funds appropriated by Congress two years earlier of $5,000. The tower and dwelling did not last long in the harsh weather, however, and by 1867 they were deteriorated enough for Congress to find need for a newer station.”

Wikipedia article Old Presque Isle Light, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 13 National Register listings published here for Presque Isle County · listed in 1973 · category: Building · built in 1840.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 2 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Off SR 405, Presque Isle, 49777
  • When was it listed? April 1973
  • Category. building
  • When was it built? 1840
  • National Register reference number. 73000957 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

2 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Old Presque Isle Lighthouse between 2001 and 2019, burning about 4 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1
Debris and open burning1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
25 August 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesEAST GRAND LAKE VFD 0001942 - 2019
29 April 2001Debris and open burning2.5 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Every fire recorded in Presque Isle County

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Old Presque Isle Lighthouse: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
State of Michigan PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
State of Michigan PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Presque Isle County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

3 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Presque Isle Light Station0.6 miles1983
KYLE SPANGLER (schooner) Shipwreck Site2.9 miles2016
Presque Isle Lodge3.8 miles2008

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 73000957 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Presque Isle CountyAll 13 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.